BFC FinTech Monitor (April – May 2026)

Stay up-to-date on all the latest FinTech news and information from around the world in the BFC FinTech Monitor.

Around the World

#Reports and Research

• Europe’s leading fintech companies including Revolut and Klarna remain critically dependent on American infrastructure and late-stage investment capital. »»»
• Venture capital funding in Central Asia reached a record $320 million by the end of 2025. »»»
• Almost 90 per cent of financial influencer content fails to meet basic quality standards. »»»

#Payments & Neobanking

• Domestic banks are slowing the European Union’s efforts to reduce reliance on Visa and Mastercard. »»»
• PayPal is reorganising its business into three distinct operating lines. »»»
• Visa has launched its Agentic Ready programme across the CEMEA region, with 30 banks taking part in pilots for AI-driven payment capabilities. »»»
• Mastercard and German fintech start-up ryd have launched a fully digital payment ecosystem for corporate vehicle fleets, designed to replace traditional fuel cards. »»»
• Visa has unveiled its Intelligent Authorization solution, which enables acquirers to modernise payment authorisation through a single API connection. »»»
• Visa and Pinwheel have introduced a subscription management tool that will be embedded directly in banking apps. »»»
• Standard Chartered has launched cross-border payments through Hong Kong’s fast payment system for offshore companies and payment service providers. »»»
• The Bank of Korea and Bank Indonesia have introduced a bilateral QR-based payment service allowing tourists to pay in local currencies without exchanging money. »»»
• Wise has launched full current account services for its 3mn UK customers, posing a direct challenge to high-street banks. »»»
• New York state has passed legislation requiring all retail outlets and food-service establishments to accept cash. »»»

#Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• OpenAI has proposed a global AI governance body involving both the United States and China. »»»
• Swiss bank Sygnum says it is the first bank to test an AI agent capable of executing live cryptocurrency transactions without accessing clients’ private keys. »»»
• Financial technology group Fiserv has launched AgentOS, an operating system built on agentic AI for the banking sector. »»»
• CB Insights has published its latest State of AI report, covering the competitive landscape in the first quarter of 2026. »»»
• Alipay has expanded its AI Pay service to support autonomous payments by AI agents, including OpenClaw-type tools. »»»
• Artificial intelligence could automate up to 50 per cent of tasks in most UK financial services roles. »»»
• Greece’s Piraeus Bank has partnered with Accenture and Anthropic to create a new AI hub for development and scaling across the Piraeus Financial Holdings group. »»»
• Google has committed to investing up to $40bn in Anthropic, developer of the Claude family of AI models, as it deepens its AI ambitions. »»»
• OpenAI and Plaid have integrated bank account connectivity with ChatGPT to offer users personalised financial guidance. »»»
• Anthropic’s Mythos AI model has alarmed financial regulators in the United States and the United Kingdom after its developers said the system had identified thousands of critical zero-day vulnerabilities, including flaws in major operating systems and browsers, some undetected for decades. »»»
• More than half of senior business executives would allow AI agents to negotiate autonomously with other AI agents, according to a Visa survey on readiness for agentic commerce. »»»
• More than a third of financial institutions in Central Asia already use AI solutions, while over half plan to do so within the coming year. »»»
• Mastercard has unveiled a Virtual C-Suite initiative — a suite of AI agents designed to handle executive management tasks for small and medium-sized enterprises. »»»

#Crypto, Blockchain & DeFi

• The US Federal Reserve has proposed a new payment account for cryptocurrency companies, offering direct access to clearing without the need for bank intermediaries. »»»
• Revolut has launched its first physical debit card linked to cryptocurrency holdings. »»»
• Coinbase has announced a breakthrough agreement on a key provision of the Clarity Act, a piece of crypto market structure legislation that had stalled in the US Senate for months. »»»
• Brazil’s central bank will prohibit the use of stablecoins and cryptocurrencies for settlement in regulated cross-border payments from October 1. »»»
• France’s finance minister has called on European banks to tokenise deposits as a means of countering US dominance in the digital assets space. »»»
• More than 120 cryptocurrency companies have urged US senators to pass the CLARITY Act, which would establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital asset markets. »»»
• Coinbase and Bybit have agreed to collaborate on the tokenisation of US equities. »»»
• New York’s attorney-general has filed suit against Coinbase and Gemini, alleging the exchanges were operating unlicensed prediction markets akin to gambling. »»»
• Seven Swiss financial institutions, including UBS, PostFinance and Sygnum, have launched a regulatory sandbox to test a Swiss franc-denominated stablecoin. »»»
• Swift has advanced its blockchain ledger project to the minimum viable product build phase, targeting interoperability of tokenised bank deposits for round-the-clock cross-border payments across more than 200 countries. »»»
• South Korea’s ruling party has tabled a bill that would introduce bank-style authorisation requirements and strict standards for stablecoin issuers. »»»
• The European Central Bank has officially announced the Appia initiative, a long-term programme to build a unified European ecosystem for tokenised assets. »»»
• The United States, United Kingdom and Canada have launched Operation Atlantic, a joint effort to identify victims of cryptocurrency fraud, disrupt organised scam networks and raise public awareness of crypto investment schemes. »»»
• Finance expert Furugh Odinayev has published an analysis of cryptocurrency regulation across Central Asia. »»»
• The National Bank of Belarus has approved 26 cryptocurrencies and 11 categories of permitted operations for the country’s crypto banks. »»»
• Content creators in Colombia and the Philippines can now receive payments from Meta in USDC stablecoins directly into external cryptocurrency wallets. »»»

#Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

• The European Parliament has cleared a significant political obstacle in negotiations over the digital euro, accelerating a project that would give the ECB’s CBDC offline functionality alongside conventional banknotes and bank services. »»»
• Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has confirmed that the United States central bank is not actively developing a digital currency project. »»»
• The total value of transactions conducted using India’s CBDC has surpassed $4bn. »»»

#Miscellaneous

• Financial regulators from 17 jurisdictions — including the UK’s FCA, Australia’s ASIC and India’s SEBI — have conducted a coordinated global action week targeting social media influencers who promote financial products without adequate disclosure. »»»
• Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent is expanding its footprint across Central Asia. »»»

MENA Region:

• Lean Technologies has scaled its Pay by Bank service across the UAE following the launch of open finance regulations, with account-to-account payments reported to be saving businesses $100mn in transaction fees. »»»
• Crypto.com has become the first company in the UAE to obtain a stored value facilities licence for virtual asset payments, and has launched crypto-denominated settlement for government services in Dubai. »»»
• US-based, Egyptian-founded fintech MoneyHash has extended its partnership with Visa to scale the Cybersource payments platform across MENA emerging markets. »»»
• Dutch fintech group Adyen has deepened its partnership with Careem Pay to expand remittance services from the UAE. »»»
• UAE digital wallet du Pay and the Philippines’ largest payment ecosystem GCash have linked up to enable instant bilateral remittances. »»»
• Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank has become the first institution in the UAE to receive a Third-Party Provider licence under the central bank’s open finance initiative. »»»
• VaultsPay and Mastercard have partnered to launch card issuing solutions for retail and corporate clients in the UAE. »»»

Ukraine:

• More than 200 representatives of the business, banking, fintech and technology sectors attended the Fintech & Payments Forum 2026. »»»
• UK-based, Ukrainian-founded Fintech Farm has raised a $15mn loan from Flashpoint to fund expansion into India and Vietnam. »»»
• The National Bank of Ukraine has updated its open banking rules, simplifying the process for payment initiation. »»»
• Raiffeisen Bank Aval has been named winner at the Ukrainian FinTech Awards 2026. »»»
• Online publication Marketer has released a review of the proceedings of the second Ukraine Fintech Week. »»»
• Andriejus Trofimov, founder and chief executive of international fintech group Aventus Group, has outlined why operating under wartime conditions and shifting regulatory requirements creates models that can be replicated in other markets. »»»
• The FinAwards 2026 ceremony took place in Kyiv. »»»
• ZEN chief executive Michal Boguslavski has explained why the Polish company opted to acquire a banking licence in Ukraine, having taken full ownership of the insolvent First Investment Bank (PIN Bank). »»»
• Moneyveo secured five awards across key categories at the PaySpace Magazine Awards 2025. »»»

Kazakhstan:

• Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent has become one of the largest shareholders in Kaspi.kz. »»»
• Biometric authentication has been made mandatory for banks and microfinance institutions. »»»
• The Silk Road Cash Payments Conference will be held in Almaty from 15 to 17 September. »»»
• Kazakhstan’s National Bank has clarified the rules governing the use of the digital tenge. »»»
• The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market is tightening oversight of money transfers and suspicious transactions involving private individuals. »»»
• Kazakhstan and Tajikistan have agreed to deepen cooperation on digital government solutions and artificial intelligence. »»»
• The Innopay service ceased operations on 20 April. »»»
• A Kazakhstani developer has unveiled Agent Browser Workspace, an open-source tool positioned as a locally controlled alternative to Perplexity. »»»

Kyrgyzstan:

• Justin Sun, founder of the TRON blockchain platform, held meetings in Bishkek with President Sadyr Japarov. »»»
• Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and Kyrgyzstan’s national mobile operator MEGA have announced a strategic partnership. »»»

Tajikistan:

• The government has launched a national financial literacy programme for 2026–2030. »»»
• The state treasury will shift to a fully digital operating model. »»»
• Seven memoranda of cooperation in the field of digital technologies were signed at the plenary session of the Russia-Tajikistan business mission “Charting a Digital Future Together”. »»»
• The government has approved a Medium-Term Digital Economy Development Programme for 2026–2030. »»»
• Fintech start-up zypl.ai has raised $5.5mn in a strategic bridge round. »»»

Uzbekistan:

• Parliament has enacted a law establishing a legal framework for Islamic banking. »»»
• The president has ordered a stronger state response to cybercrime. »»»
• Fintech company Alif has entered an aggressive growth phase in the Pakistani market following the award of a non-bank lending licence. »»»
• The Eurasian Development Bank has extended a $70mn credit facility to Uzum to support the expansion of its fintech services. »»»
• The Senate has approved legislation requiring commercial banks, payment system operators and payment organisations to deploy anti-fraud systems and biometric identification. »»»
• The Ministry of Justice has registered ethical guidelines governing the development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence systems. »»»
• The central bank has launched an account-to-account transfer service enabling individuals to move funds directly between bank accounts without using payment cards. »»»
• The president has signed amendments to the Personal Data Law that are expected to open the market to Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal. »»»
• Uzbekistan is establishing its own international financial centre. »»»
• The Fintech Association of Uzbekistan has joined the Asia Fintech Alliance as its 15th member country. »»»
• Interest in cryptocurrency mining has grown after the country issued its first mining licence, according to the head of the crypto-asset development division at the National Agency for Advanced Projects. »»»
• Payment services will be required to transmit full sender identification data alongside domestic electronic money transfers at or above 11.2mn Uzbekistani som. »»»
• Uzum Bank has been named Uzbekistan’s Best Bank by Global Finance magazine. »»»
• Mongolia and Uzbekistan have agreed to link their payment systems — HUMO and Takara Solutions (part of Mongol ID Holdings) — under a new bilateral agreement. »»»
• HUMO and Click have launched HumoPay, a mini-application enabling contactless payments on Android devices. »»»
• The founder of SaaS platform AliPos received a $200,000 investment offer following an appearance on the first season of the pitch show Taqdimot. »»»
• Paynet and Mastercard have launched the MoneySend international remittance service. »»»
• The Fintech Association of Uzbekistan will host a free webinar covering the practical and regulatory aspects of entering the EU market. »»»
• The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has revised its peer-to-peer transaction rules, abandoning plans to mandate payment purpose descriptions and giving banks and fintechs discretion over whether to implement the feature. »»»

Azerbaijan: 

• Azerbaijan intends to extend its open banking framework to cover non-bank financial institutions. »»»
• The International Finance & Banking Summit 2026 will take place in Baku on 9–10 June. »»»
• Azerbaijani banker Zeynal Karimzade has raised $1mn in investment for fintech start-up Epoint. »»»
• Birbank has become the first bank in Azerbaijan to introduce a sign-language video call feature. »»»
• A new phase of modernisation of Azerbaijan’s national payment infrastructure has been completed. »»»
• The central bank has recorded a 15 per cent rise in cashless payments in February 2026 — the highest growth on record. »»»
• The central bank has also published its 2025 annual press release, noting 17 active e-money operators, the launch of the AZQR standard, integration of the IPS instant payment system and contactless payments on Baku public transport. »»»

Armenia:

• Biometric verification via the easywallet app or the imID service will be made available at EasyPay payment terminals. »»»
• Byblos Bank Armenia has joined the Fintech Association of Armenia as a founding member. »»»
• Armenia is advancing its AI infrastructure ambitions: a co-founder of Eleveight AI has outlined a $70mn first-phase investment project anchored by a Nvidia GPU-based data centre near Lake Sevan, with a focus on AI services for the regional financial sector. »»»
• Global Finance magazine has named Ameriabank as  Armenia’s best bank for the eleventh consecutive year. »»»

Georgia:

• Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, has announced the launch of GELT, a new stablecoin pegged to the GEL. »»»
• Varlam Ebanoidze, head of the fintech development department at the National Bank of Georgia, has described how the integration of regulatory sandboxes and open banking is reshaping the country’s financial sector architecture. »»»
• Bybit is reinforcing Georgia’s position as a regional crypto hub, increasing investment in the local ecosystem and expanding engagement with public and private sector partners. »»»
• The National Bank of Georgia has invited brokerage firms to participate in a regulatory sandbox for tokenised bonds. »»»
• The regulator has also tightened payment service rules to protect customers aged 60 and over from fraud schemes. »»»
• Total open banking transactions in Georgia exceeded 9.3mn in 2025. »»»

Moldova:

• The National Bank of Moldova has launched an open banking framework. »»»
• The regulator is also deploying artificial intelligence across its operations, including an internal data analysis assistant. »»»
• The MIA instant payment system processed 15mn transactions totalling MDL 13.2bn in 2025. »»»
• Iute Group has acquired Energbank in Moldova and launched IuteBank in Ukraine. »»»